India hangs only surviving gunman of 2008 Mumbai attacks

Officials in india say the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai was executed. The Pakistani citizen was one of ten gunmen who went on a three-day killing rampage. TODAY's Natalie Morales reports.

By NBC News staff and wire reports

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The Pakistan militant group accused of killing 166 people in a 2008 gun rampage in Mumbai has warned of future attacks, Reuters reported, after India secretly executed the only surviving man responsible.

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, 25, a member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was hanged at the Yerawada Prison in in Pune, southeast of Mumbai, at 7:30 a.m. local time Wednesday (9 p.m. ET Tuesday) -- hours after India's President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his legal appeal.

Sanjay Kanojia / AFP - Getty Images

Members of Bajrang Dal, a hard-line Hindu organization in India, distribute candy in Allahabad as they celebrate the execution of Pakistan-born Mohammed Kasab on Wednesday.

The Pakistani national was the only suspect to be captured alive after Nov. 26, 2008 atrocity -- locally dubbed "26/11" -- in which 10 militants embarked on a 60-hour killing spree that engulfed cafes and luxury hotels including the landmark Taj Mahal Palace.

Pictures of the young gunman wearing a black T-shirt and toting an AK-47 rifle as he strode through Mumbai's train station were published around the world -- helping to secure his eventual conviction and death sentence in August.

The Times Of India / Reuters, file

Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, pictured in the Victoria Terminus railway station in Mumbai on Nov. 26, 2008.

Kasab was buried inside the prison where he was hanged, officials said. India said it would hand over the body to Pakistan if a request was made, underlying the sensitivities and severely strained relations between the two nations.

"There is no doubt that it's very shocking news and a big loss that a Muslim has been hanged on Indian soil," Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan told Reuters.

CNN IBN via Reuters, file

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving suspected gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is seen under police custody at an undisclosed location, in this undated still file image taken from video footage shown on the CNN-IBN television channel since February 3, 2009.

However, there were celebrations in India.

"When I heard the news of Kasab's execution today, I remembered those horrifying moments of the attack," said Vishnu Zende, who was working at Mumbai's train station on the day of the attack. "My eyes were filled with tears."